OK, I’m going to start by saying that in no way do I apply under the list of few people who retain from social media or can honestly admit that they don’t spend 90 percent of their day scrolling through someone's something because let’s face it, I do. I find myself looking at my phone screen every time I get home when there is a commercial on, in line at Starbucks, while I pee (you know you do that too), and 3 hours after I get into the bed to go to sleep. This all sounds funny and we laugh about it but I wish it were different.
Growing up I didn’t have an iPhone at age 7 or an iPad to teach me how to read while I think these things are great tools in today’s society I am very glad that I was born when I was. I’m grateful that I had to open a book to hear a story. Today we depend on the internet for pretty much everything we do. What happened to opening a dictionary or a map to learn something for yourself. In a way I think that the internet has taken away from self-teaching, we don’t need to learn anything ourselves anymore because we can just click the most viewed youtube video on how to do it quicker. With that said what if we started slowing down.
I wish I were the type of person to not obsess over the latest trends but I do. I’m not gonna lie, I spend endless hours on Tumblr and probably watch more YouTuber’s channels than regular TV, I’m definitely team Internet, but I need to encourage myself daily to put down my phone. What would our lives be like if we didn’t feel the need to share so much? What could life be like without social media? I could imagine vacations being spent differently, concerts more memorable, times with the people we love more meaningful.
I'd love to live in a time where confrontation wasn't an issue everyone had. Not just confrontation in a bad way but simply telling someone how you feel today isn't how it should be. Contemplating for hours over if a boy likes you because he liked your selfie on Instagram isn't something I want to be doing. Arguments today are had via text in novel size content. Having organic feelings is something that no one has anymore. When we aren't sure what to feel about a situation we turn to a web page to define our feelings for us.
With all of this said I really encourage the youth of today to challenge yourself to turn your phone off for an hour a day, or two. Take a walk, look around, think. Go to dinner with friends and have real conversations, say what you feel. Pick up a book and read, learn something new. You might surprise yourself with how well you feel.
